Interactive and mobile music workshops

SiDE has been working with Generator on their Urban Music Training programme, to expose young people to innovative experimental music technologies and processes. The “Remix Your Instrument” workshop built on the young people's existing musical skills, to open up a new world of musical innovation. They experimented with augmenting musical instruments with sensors that modified the sounds they produced. The technology was open-source hardware and software, packaged into simple modules. This allowed the young people to learn quickly how to use and even modify them.

We have also been designing participatory activities aimed at technology-supported, creative engagement in physical and community space. The “Remix Your Hood” workshop is centred on the creative use of mobile phones and MP3 players, technologies that many young people are familiar with and enjoy using. This workshop uses RjDj, a free reactive music application that remixes ambient sounds into music in real time. This enables users to view their own environment with new eyes, engage with it, and be creative.